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Cancer is a multifaceted global health issue and one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In recent years, medical science has achieved great advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Despite the numerous advantages of conventional cancer therapies, there are major drawbacks including severe side effects, toxicities, and drug resistance. Therefore, the urgency of developing new drugs with low cytotoxicity and treatment resistance is increasing. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have attracted attention as a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of various cancers, targeting tumor cells with less toxicity to normal tissues. In this review, we present the structure, biological function, and underlying mechanisms of AMPs. The recent experimental studies and clinical trials on anticancer peptides in different cancer types as well as the challenges of their clinical application have also been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Traditional breast cancer treatments have challenges including inefficiency, multidrug resistance, severe side effects, and targeting non-specifically. The development of alternative treatment strategies has attracted a great deal of interest. Using the amniotic membrane has become a promising and convenient new approach for cancer therapy. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-cancer ability of conditioned medium extracted from the human amniotic membrane (hAM-CM) on breast cancer cells. Methods: Conditioned medium was collected after 48 h incubation of hAM in epithelial up manner. MTT, cell cycle, apoptosis, colony formation, and sphere assays were used to determine the impact of hAM-CM on breast cancer cell lines. The effects of hAM-CM on the migration and invasion of breast cancer cells were determined using scratch wound healing and transwell assays, respectively. Results: Based on the results, cell viability was significantly decreased by hAM-CM in a dose-dependent manner. The hAM-CM remarkably induced apoptosis and necrosis of cancer cells. Moreover, cell migration and invasion potential of cancer cells decreased after the hAM-CM treatment. Further, both the number of colonies and their morphologies were affected by the treatment. In the treated group, a significant decrease in the number of colonies along with an obvious change in their morphologies from holoclone shape to a dominant paracolone structure was observed. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the conditioned medium derived from the human amniotic membrane able to inhibit proliferation and metastasis of tumor cells and can be considered a natural and valuable candidate for breast cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]